SaSiMa (1990)

Composer note
During my first visit to San Antonio I was deeply impressed by the distinct personality of this beautiful and unusual city. In SASIMA I tried to translate into sound some of the visual impressions I gathered during that visit.

The basic material of the work is very compact, consisting mainly of two contrasting motives: one diatonic made out of major seconds, and perfect fourths and fifths; the other is chromatic, consisting basically of minor seconds and augmented fourths. The first motive is the main material out of which the melodic material of the fast sections unfolds (the second motives appear, but on a secondary level).

The middle section of SASIMA is a slow dance-like movement with a genuine Hispanic flavor. This phantasmagoric apparition of an habanera is constructed with the second motive (in an inverse situation to the fast sections, the first motive appears on a secondary level.

Another important aspect of SASIMA is the harmonic exploration of the tone C, which is the fundamental idea of the slow introduction that [recurs] throughout the piece. The last measure of SASIMA is a compressed recapitulation of the two basic melodic motives, which become a single motive that the orchestra plays in unison and octaves.

— Roberto Sierra